Special to WorldTribune.com

TEL AVIV — Israel has been linked to a virus attack on Iran’s energy
infrastructure.

Officials and executives suggested an Israeli link to the Flame malware,
a virus said to have attacked computers in Iran.

The officials said Flame was an advanced software that could take over targeted computers without a trace.

“Whoever sees the Iranian threat as significant would find it reasonable to take various measures, including this one,” Israeli Vice
Premier Moshe Ya’alon said.

In an interview on Israel Army radio on May 29, Ya’alon, who also serves as strategic threats minister, did not confirm an Israeli link to the virus attack on Iran. But the former chief of staff, who warned that Western sanctions were failing to stop Iran’s nuclear weapons program, said Israel has developed advanced cyberwarfare capabilities.

“Israel has been blessed with being rich in top level high-tech,”
Ya’alon said. “These tools that we take pride in open up various
possibilities for us.”

At a defense conference on May 8, Ya’alon touted cyberwarfare as a way
Israel could attack enemies without leaving a trace or violating
sovereignty. The minister raised the prospect that Israel could use this
tool against Islamic militias in Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula.

Flame, believed to have been introduced in 2010, was designed to attack
computers that use Microsoft Windows and steal data and spy on users. A
Russian company, Kaspersky Lab, reported Flame attacks on Egypt, Iran,
Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, Sudan and Syria.

The malware was described as 20 times more complex than Stuxnet, used in
a suspected Israeli attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities in 2010. Software
analysts said China, Israel, Russia and the United States were capable of
developing Flame.

“We know that the infected computers contained extremely sensitive
information,” Ilan Froimovici, Kaspersky’s representative in Israel, said.
“It is a masterpiece of programming, not something that a bored student or
some guy, talented as he may be, could do.”

  Flame malware, Iran’s nuclear weapons program, Israel hints it launched new cyber attack on Iran: We are ‘blessed with top level high-tech’, Kapersky Lab, more complex than Stuxnet, Moshe Ya’alon